Report: Lebanese Officer May Have Fled to Israel

A report Thursday said that a high ranking officer in the Lebanese Army has in recent days defected to Israel. According to the report, the officer feared he would be exposed as having spied for Israel, and decided to leave before he was arrested.

The officer, Dahar Jarju'i, served in a communication unit together with a Spanish contingent of UNIFIL soldiers, and lived in south Lebanon, in a village near Marjayoun, just a few kilometers from Metulla on Israel's northern border. The report said that the family has been searching for him for the past week. Lebanese authorities said he has not been arrested, leading the family to conclude that he probably fled to Israel.